Cyclonic separators are commonly used to separate dust and debris from the suction airflow of vacuum cleaners. Known cyclonic separators comprise a cyclone chamber with an air inlet and an air outlet. The air inlet is angled obliquely to the central axis of the cyclone chamber so that when air enters the cyclone chamber a vortex of air is formed. Dirt and debris entrained in the airflow are urged against the peripheral wall of the cyclone chamber under centrifugal forces, which causes the dust and debris to fall to the bottom of the cyclone chamber. The clean airflow, which is now separated from the dust and debris, is then exhausted through the air outlet and the dust and debris stored in the cyclone chamber.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,562,093 shows a cyclonic separator having a dust bin that is in-line with a cyclone chamber to save space. The dust bin is separated from the cyclone chamber by a separation device to prevent dust and debris that have accumulated in the dust bin from being blown back into the cyclone chamber.
US2006053757 shows a vacuum cleaner having a cyclone dust-collecting apparatus including a cyclone body having a suction part through which air is drawn in and a discharge part through which the air is discharged; a grill connected to the discharge part, for filtering the air; a dirt receptacle connected to the cyclone body, for collecting dirt separated from the air which is drawn in through the suction part; and a downstream guide part for preventing dirt collected in the dirt receptacle from being scattered, and, of the dirt included in the drawn-in air, downward guiding a dirt having at least one of a predetermined weight and a predetermined size in a spiral direction by a flux of the air to the dirt receptacle.